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Facebook security compromises are in the news in recent weeks, and scammers are taking advantage of this in a variation of the “tech support scam” we have previously written about. And because Facebook’s security issues are top of mind for many, calls from these scammers can sound more credible.

How It WorksYou will receive an auto-dialed call (or robocall) claiming to be from Facebook, warning that your account has a security issue. The caller directs you to press 1 if you pick up the call or they will leave a phone number for you to call back, under threat that they will suspend your account. When you talk to a “representative,” they will ask you for your login credentials or other personal information. They may go on to claim that you have a computer virus that they will fix for a fee, if you let them take control of your computer remotely.

What You Should Know•Facebook is not going to call to tell you of an account problem.•Anytime someone contacts you and requests remote access to your computer, it is a scam. The goal is to convince you of a problem you don’t have to get you to pay for a repair you don’t need, or to install software that gives the scammer access to social or financial accounts.

What You Should Do•If you get an unsolicited call claiming to be from Facebook, do not press 1 to speak to a representative, and do not return the call.•Don’t rely on results of an online search for “Facebook customer service,” as many authentic-looking pages are phony.•If you have concerns about your Facebook account, log on and click “Settings” to review your privacy settings. If you think your account has been compromised, set a new password immediately.•If you have been targeted by this scam or have fallen victim, call the AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline at 1-877-908-3360 for guidance and support.

What makes you prone to getting scammed? It may be the personality traits that make you a good person. Based on our research at theAARP Fraud Watch Network, here are some characteristics that make people vulnerable to fraud:

1. You respect authority. Many common scams are perpetrated by crooks impersonating a police officer, an IRS or Social Security agent, or a court representative. Always remember this: Government offices rarely call citizens to conduct business — and they never demand quick payment. If that’s what the caller wants, put aside your inclination to defer to authority figures. Just hang up.

2. You like to please people. One scam we’ve been seeing hits people at work and plays on your good nature. An email from a boss or coworker asks you to buy some expensive gift cards and take photos of the front and back of the card to get reimbursed. The email is actually from a scammer mimicking the real thing. Once he has the numbers from the gift cards, he uses them before the fraud is caught.

3. You are cocky. We often hear from victims, “I’ve never been defrauded. I thought I was too smart.” If you believe you are immune to being cheated, think again. Scammers are professionals — and endlessly creative.

4. You slipped up once. Sadly, if you have already been scammed, chances are good the fraud calls will increase. Thieves put your information on a “victim list” that gets sold to other scammers or criminal rings.

5. You’re friendly. Many victims who call us met their scammer on social media via a friend request. Try to limit social media contact to real friends and family, and turn down requests from people you don’t know.

6. You are under stress. We also get lots of calls from people who were tricked into giving away personal info while dealing with an illness or another stressful event. People who have recently lost a loved one are also vulnerable, especially if the obituary reveals details that a crook can use as bait. Be especially vigilant during times of crisis.

7. You’re lonely. The Fraud Watch Network has found that many scam victims report feeling lonely and isolated from family and friends. That makes them susceptible to the fake friendliness of professional thieves. If you feel lonely or isolated, AARP and AARP Foundation have programs to help you connect with people in your community. Go to connect2affect.org.

Unwanted phone calls and text messages continue to surge, no matter what efforts lawmakers and regulators take to curb them. In the first four months of this year, call-blocking service YouMail reports, more than 12 billion robocalls were made to American homes. That’s about 4 million every hour, and a steady increase from last year. Live calls from telemarketers have also continued to increase.

Why? Sadly, the answer is that they work. It costs scammers and spammers only a few dollars per day to simultaneously blast tens of millions of calls with autodialers. Senders — many of them con artists — spend about $438 million per year on robocalls. Those calls generate more than 20 times that amount in income, almost $10 billion a year.

The crooks generating the calls easily hide their tracks. Calls may travel through a maze of networks. They often display on caller ID screens with phony “spoofed” numbers that may appear to be local or from trusted businesses and government agencies. And they are changed frequently on purpose.

It’s nothing personal. Spammers often don’t know who owns targeted numbers, or even if the numbers are active. But no doubt you’ve been targeted, and you will continue to be. So how do you defend yourself?

You can try not picking up. But the calls that reach your voicemail greeting could flag that yours is a working number — and ripe for future calls.

Here’s a list of do-it-yourself defenses that have dropped the automated and live spam calls received by more than 90 percent.

Answer with silence. When you say hello or anything else, automated voice-activated calls launch the robocall recording or transfer you to a call center, where a live operator angles for personal and financial information. But saying nothing usually disconnects these calls within seconds, with no robo-message or callbacks from that phony number. If it is an unsolicited “live” caller, wait for that person to speak to break the silence. If you don’t recognize the voice, hang up.

Try a “not in service” recording. Using a portable tape recorder and a microphone attached to a handset, I copied a “this number is not in service” message during a callback to a scammer’s spoofed number. Since it’s cued, I sometimes play that recording — again, saying nothing — when answering calls before they go into voicemail in hopes my number will be removed from spammer calling lists. So far, I have not gotten a single callback from those incoming numbers.

Trap ’em with an app. Smartphone users have plenty of options that flag and block some fraudulent calls and text messages. Some services are free; others cost a few bucks per month.

Customers of AT&T can use Call Protect, Verizon Wireless provides Caller Name ID, Sprint offers Premium Caller ID, and T-Mobile has Scam ID and Scam Block. You can also buy apps like YouMail and RoboKiller that will filter calls for a few bucks a month — or for free in the case of Youmail.

Another freebie for virtually every landline user: Press *77 to block “anonymous” and “private” numbers, then deactivate it anytime with *87.

To block individual numbers that get through on an iPhone, open the phone app, tap the circled “i” icon to the right of the spam number that called, scroll down and tap Block This Caller. For Android smartphones, open the phone app and tap the calling number, select Details, then Block Number.

Know which calls to avoid. The most common calling cons are pitches that promise to reduce debt and credit card rates or to get you preapproved loans; offer free or low-cost vacations, time-shares, home security systems and medical supplies; or come from government and utility company impostors.

A dropped or “one-ring” call is a common ruse to prompt a callback. Beware of area codes 268, 284, 809 and 876, which originate from Caribbean countries with high per-minute phone charges.

May is National Stroke Awareness Month

In May alone, some 65,000 Americans will experience a stroke with many unaware that they were even at risk. Less than a third will arrive in the emergency room within three hours, the optimal time period for better outcome

May marks National Stroke Awareness Month, and this year the National Stroke Association is turning the spotlight on the 10 modifiable risk factors that account for 90% of strokes globally. Hypertension remains the single most important modifiable risk factor, accounting for nearly 48% of strokes. With eight in 10 people experiencing their first stroke having hypertension, getting your blood pressure checked is an important first step in controlling your stroke risk.

Research has shown that unhealthy behaviors such as physical inactivity, poor diet, and smoking have an adverse effect on health and increase your stroke risk. For example, smokers have an increased risk of stroke, up to two to four times, compared to a nonsmoker or those that have quit for longer than 10 years.

During National Stroke Awareness Month, the National Stroke Association is urging the public to look at their stroke risk factors, and pledge to make at least one change to reduce their stroke risk.

Here’s how much stroke would be reduced if each were eliminated:

– Hypertension 47.9%

– Physical inactivity 35.8%

– Lipids (blood fats) 26.8%

– Poor diet 23.2%

– Obesity 18.6%

– Smoking 12.4%

– Heart causes 9.1%

– Alcohol intake 5.8%

– Stress 5.8%

– Diabetes 3.9%

Beyond reducing your risk for stroke, knowing the signs and symptoms of a stroke are equally important. Every 40 seconds someone in the U.S. has a stroke and around 800,000 people will have a stroke in the United States this year alone.

“Learning how to recognize a stroke is just as important as reducing your risk factors,” says Robyn Moore, CEO of the National Stroke Association. “We know that recognition of stroke symptoms leads to receiving medical attention faster, which results in better outcomes. Knowing the signs of stroke, how to prevent it, and how to help others around you, just might save a life.”

Sadly, however, fewer than half of 9-1-1 calls for stroke are made within one hour of symptom onset and fewer than half of callers correctly identify stroke as the reason for their call. The acronym FAST is an easy way to identify the most common symptoms of a stroke:

F – Face: Ask the person to smile. Does one side of the face droop?

A – Arms: Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one arm drift downward?

S – Speech: Ask the person to repeat a simple sentence. Is their speech slurred?

T – Time: If you observe any of these signs, call 9-1-1 immediately.

A common misconception is that strokes occur only in older adults. Although, your stroke risk increases with age, a stroke can happen to anyone at any time. About 15% of ischemic strokes occur in young adults and adolescents.

The need for public awareness surrounding stroke prevention and awareness has never been greater. Despite being a leading cause of adult long-term disability, and the fifth leading cause of death, less than one in five Americans can correctly classify all five stroke symptoms. The time to take action is now. This May, during National Stroke Awareness month, get to know your stroke risk factors and learn to better identify the signs and symptoms of stroke. The life you save just might be your own.

How Do Scammers Know So Much About Me?

A recent caller to the AARP Fraud Watch Network helpline was being tormented with fake emails and trolling phone calls from scammers who seemed to specifically target him. He asked, “How do these people know so much about me?” We get that call a lot. Many don’t understand how they get on the radar of crooks. Here are some of the ways

I frequently enter contests. Online contests are gateways to unwanted sales pitches. Not only do marketers collect information like name, age and address, they may learn other things — that you like to travel or are buying a car. Also, they know you believe in luck. That could make you a target.

I mail in warranty cards. Ever notice when you fill out a warranty card for a toaster or coffee maker that it requests information like how much money you make? It is likely that your information is being sold to others, either legitimately or as part of a scam.

I fill out lots of surveys. Did you recently fill out a questionnaire rating your stay at a hotel or the service at a restaurant? Selling survey data is big business, and marketing firms and even criminals can learn a lot about you based on travel preferences, what type of home you own or what car you drive.

I share personal updates on Facebook. Scammers turn to social media postings to learn more about those they’ve targeted. So be prudent: Don’t post personal info, narrow who can see your posts and avoid posting real-time updates about your whereabouts.

I live in the United States. Many public records are available at the federal, state, county and city levels, including census data, property information, criminal records, bankruptcies and tax liens. Private companies can pull together all this information on you and sell it to anyone. And it’s 100 percent legal.

I toss my mail. Shred all mail that has your name and address, account numbers, or other personal data. If you don’t have a home shredder, save your papers for a neighborhood shredding event. (AARP sponsors these in many communities.) Messy garbage won’t deter a bad guy.

Someone in my family has died recently. Obituaries are prime hunting ground for scammers, who learn the names of vulnerable widows, widowers, children or grandchildren. Honor the dead, but keep personal information in obituaries to a minimum.

With the federal tax-filing deadline days away, and with many of us having already filed, it might come as no surprise to receive a communication from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)—regarding a refund, money owed or even notice of the dreaded audit. But it’s also peak season for scammers who pretend to be the IRS, with the goal of stealing your identity or your money.

How It Works Scammers, impersonating IRS agents, call and insist you have an unpaid tax bill and you face arrest unless you pay up, immediately. They employ many ways to make the hoax seem convincing. They can rig a caller ID to make it appear that the call is coming from an actual IRS office, and they may even know part of your Social Security number. The call may come in as an autodialed robocall or from a live caller. The caller may also cite a nonexistent “federal student tax” that the target has neglected to pay.

What You Should Know• The IRS communicates mostly through the mail, including cases of delinquent taxes. Phone or in-person visits come only after multiple written notices•The IRS does not communicate by email or text message•The IRS never demands immediate payment and does not threaten to have you arrested if you do not pay•The IRS does not accept payment with a credit or debit card, or by gift card or wire transfer

What You Should Do •The best move is to hang up. If you think you may owe taxes, contact the IRS yourself and inquire•If you receive an email from someone claiming to be from the IRS, forward it to phishing@irs.gov. Do not click on any links or open attachments•Ask for identification if someone shows up claiming to be from the IRS. Actual IRS employees carry two official credentials: a “pocket commission” and an HSPD-12 card

Understanding why your medications are so costly doesn’t solve the problem for you. You still need the prescription drugs you do and still have limited money to spend on them.

Fortunately, there are a few options that you have to help bring your medication costs down:

1. Ask about generics or other alternatives.

As I-MAK’s research emphasizes, some of the prescription drugs you need simply won’t have generic options available. But many types of drugs do, and doctors don’t always think to mention the generic options when writing out a prescription. So be proactive about asking.

Even when a generic option isn’t available for a specific medication, you may be able to start by trying a different, more affordable drug that treats the same thing. Ask your doctor to go over all of your options so you can make a more informed decision.

2. Get the right Medicare plan.

Do your research to figure out the different Medicare prescription plans available in your area. Specifically, ask providers which of the prescriptions your doctor recommends they cover and how much they cost. Just because a plan covers a particular drug doesn’t mean that makes it affordable. Enbrel, an arthritis drug included in I-MAK’s report about over-patenting, still typically costs over $1,000 for patients with various Medicare prescription plans.

Nonetheless, the right Medicare plan can potentially save you a lot of money on the main drugs you need.

3. Look for coupons and discounts.

Pharmacy discount cards and coupon sites can save you up to 80% on the cost of prescription drugs. Some pharmacies also have their own discount programs that can help you bring medication costs down as well.

Do some research into available coupons and discounts for your medication and ask your pharmacist about any recommendations they have.

4. Look into assistance programs.

Both drug companies and government entities sometimes provide assistance programs to help seniors out with the cost of their medications.

Check the prescription drug provider’s website to see if they offer any assistance programs. Healthfinder.gov and NeedyMeds both offer resources for helping you find relevant programs you may qualify for.

What Seniors Can Do About Rising Medication Costs

Prescription drug prices are both a big problem for individuals struggling to make ends meet and a larger societal problem that’s bad for the U.S. In addition to looking for ways to make your own drugs more affordable, consider how you can help be a part of the bigger solution.

According to Amin, we should all be asking: “Why is it that seniors in the European markets are able to get access to a number of these drugs… and yet in the United States, they’re not able to?”

“The policies that the United States… doesn’t favor the consumers, it’s largely in favor of the corporation,” he explains. “Seniors need to be able to speak to their representatives.”

If you want access to the drugs you need at better rates and you want your children to be able to access them when the time comes as well, call your representatives and tell them so. Amin recommends calling and asking, “Why are companies able to have these monopoly strongholds on products for so long?”

During tax-filing season, it pays to be aware of the ways that scammers and hackers may try to put your potential refund in their pocket.

How It Works:

A number of different scams tend to ramp up during the filing season. Tax identity theft occurs when someone steals your Social Security number to file a fraudulent tax refund or to get a job. There are also computer viruses out there (the “Emotet” virus for one) that can send emails supposedly from the IRS with a fake copy of your tax return. Once you click it, you may become vulnerable to hackers. And of course, the ever-present IRS impostor scam calls tend to be much more common this time of year.

What You Should Know:

If the IRS receives a duplicate tax return filing using your Social Security number, you will receive a written notice through the mail.

Likewise, the IRS will send a notice if you have unreported income or that you and someone else are claiming the same dependents.

The IRS will not initiate contact with you by e-mail, text or social media. The IRS will not call you unless you have first heard from them by mail, and will never insist on payments using things like gift cards or pre-paid money cards (e.g. Green Dot).

Potential Ways to Reduce Your Risk of Being Victimized:

Submit your tax return as early in the tax season as possible.

Be careful what you share – don’t give out your personal information unless you know who is asking and why, and don’t be shy about refusing.

Never open e-mail attachments that are not from a verified sender.

Dispose of sensitive information safely – shred it with a micro-cut shredder.

Know your tax preparer.

Check the status of your refund after filing at www.irs.gov/refunds. If you receive notice from the IRS that you are a victim of identity theft, call the number on the notice or 800-908-4490. Learn more at www.identitytheft.gov.

When you settle in to do your taxes this year — or sit down to talk to your accountant — you may be in for some surprises. The reason: This is the first year you’ll see the full effects of the sweeping tax reform bill that passed in late 2017.

That new law made a long list of adjustments to what you can and can’t write off, what you’ll owe and even which forms you can use. These five changes are among the biggest:

1. Chances are slim that you’ll itemize deductions.

The standard tax deduction filers could claim has nearly doubled its previous amount, so it is now $12,000 for single filers and $24,000 for married couples filing jointly. Plus, if you’re 65 or older and married, you can tack another $1,300 onto the standard deduction; as a single filer 65 or older, add $1,600.

At the same time, many itemized deductions have been eliminated or reduced. Most notably, the total deduction for state and local income and real estate taxes is capped at $10,000 (for singles and married couples filing jointly).

These changes could lead an estimated 90 percent of filers to take the standard deduction this year, up from the typical 70 percent, according to the Tax Policy Center.

For many people, this switch will mean less time digging up receipts and poring over bank and credit card statements to capture every single tiny deduction.

“It’ll be easier to figure out if you have to itemize,” says Patrick Daly, a CPA at the New York City accounting firm Citrin Cooperman. “Add up your charitable giving, mortgage interest and state and local taxes, and call it a day.” If that total is less than your standard deduction would be, chances are you can skip itemizing (one exception: if you have high medical expenses — see No. 4 below).

Keep in mind that some states let you itemize deductions when you file your state taxes even if you take the standard deduction on your federal return. States also may have different rules for what’s still deductible, so check.

2. Your tax bill might change for the better.

The tax law cut income tax rates through 2025. The top rate for the highest earners — what single filers would owe on taxable income over $300,000, or $600,000 for married couples filing jointly—went from 39.6 percent to 37 percent, for example, and the 28 percent tax bracket — for incomes between $82,500 and $157,500 for singles and $165,000 and $315,000 for marrieds filing jointly — is now 24 percent, and so on.

Those changes are expected to lower tax bills for a majority of filers. Last winter, the IRS issued new withholding guidelines for employers, putting more money into the paychecks of millions of Americans.

Still, other changes to the tax law may complicate that picture. While you’ll see a much higher standard deduction, you’ll no longer enjoy personal exemptions, which were worth $4,050 a person last year, a hit to big families who were entitled to an exemption for mom, dad and every dependent child. The cap on deductions for state and local taxes could lead to a higher tax bill for residents of states with high income taxes such as California, New Jersey, New York and Hawaii.

What’s more, the shifting income cutoffs that determine your tax bracket have left a few higher-income earners facing higher tax rates, says Cari Weston, director of tax practice and ethics for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. For example, single filers with taxable incomes between $157,500 and $200,000 will be in the 32 percent tax bracket, up from 28 percent.

This filing season, your likelihood of getting a refund — and the size of that refund — is more uncertain than normal. Some experts are predicting larger refunds overall, but not everyone should celebrate yet. Even if you did adjust the withholding from your paychecks after the new tax law took effect, that change might not have been enough to account for lost deductions or outside income. “There are going to be more people who are caught off guard,” says Weston.

Because of the uncertainty due to the new tax law, the IRS recently softened the rules for when you’ll owe an underpayment penalty if you didn’t have enough money withheld or paid via estimated taxes.

3. The tax forms are sporting a new look.

Remember the much-hyped “tax return on a postcard” proposal? Forms 1040A and 1040EZ are gone, and Form 1040 has been redesigned so that it fits on two half pages.

But if you’re still among the small group of filers who use paper forms, this doesn’t really represent much in the way of simplification. To squeeze the 1040 into half the space, the IRS just moved the actual work someplace else. “They added more complex worksheets to make the form simpler,” says Weston. “If you do your taxes by hand, you won’t like it.”

In fact, don’t count on taxes becoming much simpler any time soon. “Taxes is still a vocabulary we don’t use on a day-to-day basis,” says Brian Ashcraft, director of compliance for Liberty Tax Service. “We endure it one time a year.”

4. You have a better shot at deducting medical expenses.

Thanks to tax reform, you can deduct unreimbursed medical expenses that exceed 7.5 percent of your adjusted gross income for at least one more year. That threshold can be a high bar to meet, but it will go up to 10 percent for 2019 taxes.

For those shouldering nursing home expenses or other high medical costs, this deduction will be more accessible and valuable in your 2018 taxes. “If you have a bad medical year, this is a helpful way to help pay for it,” says Ashcraft.

5. You get a bigger break for the people you support.

Tax reform increased the maximum child tax credit (available for children under the age of 17) from $1,000 to $2,000 and also made it possible for some filers with higher incomes to claim this credit. Credits such as this one can be especially valuable because they cut your tax bill dollar for dollar. A deduction, on the other hand, just reduces the amount of income that’s taxed. For example, a $2,000 credit saves you $2,000 in taxes, while if you’re in the 24 percent tax bracket, say, a $2,000 deduction only cuts your tax bill by $480.

Tax Day is around the corner and time is of the essence when it comes to preparing your 2018 tax return.

See what retirees can expect from the new tax law changes and how your tax return strategy may be different this year.

How the New Tax Law Affects Seniors

In late 2017, Congress passed a massive tax overhaul to take effect for 2018 taxes and while change brings uncertainty, the good news is that seniors may benefit from the new Trump tax plan.

If you are a caregiver for a parent or senior loved one whose finances you manage or a senior yourself, here are some of the biggest changes to expect this tax season:

1. Higher standard deduction.

Many seniors have fewer expenses to itemize, if any, as they don’t have dependents or a mortgage. In this situation, families choose the standard deduction. The new tax plan doubles the standard deduction, meaning the majority of retirees will greatly benefit as the standard deduction is more valuable.

2. Increased deduction for medical expenses.

Healthcare is a big expense for retirees and under the new tax laws, you’re allowed to deduct medical expenses that exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income (AGI). This means if your AGI is $60,000 and you spend $16,000 of it on healthcare, you’ll have an $11,500 deduction on your hands, which could be enough to make itemizing worth it when it comes to taxes.

When the average 65-year-old couple today is expected to spend $400,000 on medical costs in retirement, this can be substantial savings.

3. IRA charitable distribution as law.

The new laws lowered tax rates for filers in almost every income category, which can be a big benefit for seniors and their families – especially those subject to required minimum distributions (RMDs). You’re required to start taking withdrawals once you turn 70 and 1/2, when you hold funds in a traditional IRA or 401k as those withdrawals are taxed as ordinary income.

However, with the new tax brackets being a bit more favorable across the board, retirees may not lose quite as much of their savings to taxes with their RMDs.

4. Lower income tax rates.

Social Security benefits are a key source of income for many retirees and for many, a portion of this income is taxable. The new tax rules lowered most of the marginal income tax rates so that more income is included in the lower tax brackets. This means many seniors can benefit from a lower taxable income.

For example, the 15% tax rate dropped to 12% and the 25% tax rate dropped to 22%. It’s important to note that the new Trump tax plan did not change the amount of Social Security included in taxable income.

Don’t wait until the last minute to file your, a parent’s or senior loved one’s taxes. Filing early can help give you peace of mind and time to make sure you are informed about the new tax laws.